I need to find the driving distance between 2 locations. I do not need to display the directions in a map, just need to calculate the distance, which I need to use in my application.
Does MapKit allow this? Is there an alternative that can be used?
I am able to get forward geo-coding using CloudMade, but there doesn't seem to be an option to obtain driving distance.
Appreciate any help.
CloudMade also offers driving directions. If you are only interested in the distance, simply ignore the instructions.
An API-Call looks like this:
http://navigation.cloudmade.com/YOUR-API-KEY-GOES-HERE/api/0.3/47.25976,9.58423,47.26117,9.59882/car/shortest.js
and the JSON includes
....
route_summary: {
total_distance: Distance in meters,...
Source
Found this in Google Groups, is that helpful?
http://groups.google.com/group/google-maps-api/msg/4dc2fad4f74e3314?pli=1
In my applications I used MKDirections to get driving (walking) distance between two location.
CLLocationCoordinate2D startCoordinates = YOUR_START_COORDINATES;
CLLocationCoordinate2D endCoordinates = YOUR_END_COORDINATES;
MKPlacemark *startPoint = [[MKPlacemark alloc] initWithCoordinate:startCoordinates];
MKPlacemark *endPoint = [[MKPlacemark alloc] initWithCoordinate:endCoordinates];
MKMapItem *startItem = [[MKMapItem alloc] initWithPlacemark:startPoint];
MKMapItem *endItem = [[MKMapItem alloc] initWithPlacemark:endPoint];
MKDirectionsRequest *request = [[MKDirectionsRequest alloc] init];
request.source = startItem;
request.destination = endItem;
request.transportType = MKDirectionsTransportTypeAutomobile; //here you can choose a transport type you need
MKDirections *direction = [[MKDirections alloc] initWithRequest:request];
[direction calculateDirectionsWithCompletionHandler:^(MKDirectionsResponse * _Nullable response, NSError * _Nullable error) {
if (response) {
for (MKRoute *route in response.routes) {
NSLog(@"Distance : %f", route.distance);
}
}
}];
if you have you location as an address, so you can use the method of CLGeocoder, which will give you latitude and longitude of your address
- (void)geocodeAddressString:(NSString *)addressString completionHandler:(CLGeocodeCompletionHandler)completionHandler;
If you compare a driving distance result using MKDirections with the one using Google Maps, you will see that they differ. I was searching regarding this matter and came across the following link http://www.macworld.co.uk/review/reference-education/apple-maps-vs-google-maps-3464377/
Even though Apple have been improving their map service, they still concede in accuracy to Google (IMO), at least in a question regarding the driving distance. So if accuracy is not highly important in your case, so you can follow along with Apple. Otherwise I would recommend checking Google API.